Ice Class Salvage Ship Launched

Posted by Eric Haun

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

The multifunctional ice class salvage ship Spasatel Demidov – the fourth vessel of the MPSV07 project series – has been launched at Nevsky Shipyard. The vessel is being built to the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) class. RS class notation: KM Arc5 [1] AUT1-ICS OMBO FF3WS DYNPOS-2 EPP Salvage ship. The launch ceremony was held on August 12, 2014.

The ceremony was attended by management from the shipyard, representatives from the client, and the designers and suppliers of equipment and materials. On behalf of RS, the ceremony was attended by the RS Baltic branch Director Mikhail Kuteyev, who said, "Two salvage ships – the Spasatel Karev and the Spasatel Kavdeykin – are already involved in salvage activities in the areas of shipping, fisheries and the offshore oil and gas industry. A third vessel – the Spasatel Zaborschikov – has arrived in the port of Murmansk and will start operating in the near future. Ships produced under this project have demonstrated their effectiveness in operations.”

As part of their basic task of providing technical support and assistance to ships in distress, as well as towing ships and offshore structures (in ice-bound and open water), ships in this range are able to refloat vessels that have run aground or are reef-damaged become stuck on reefs, pump water from flooded compartments, tow vessels in distress to a place of refuge harbor, and conduct search and rescue and evacuation of people. A clear advantage is their capacity to support underwater diving work to a depth of 300 m, and surveying of the seabed and damaged objects at depths of up to 1,000 m.

The new ship will be named in honor of a sea captain, a rescuer, first chief of the Expeditionary Rescue, Salvage and Underwater Operations Division of Sakhalin State Shipping Company, the honorary worker of sea fleet Alexander Demidov.